We consider the consequences of a shared brand name such as geographical names used to identify high quality products, for the incentives of otherwise autonomous firms to invest in quality. We contend that such collective brand labels improve communication between sellers and consumers, when the...

Recent studies (Galor and Zeira (1993), Banerjee and Newman (1993)) argue that, because of capital market imperfections, income inequality leads to inefficiencies which impede economic growth. By contrast, Keynes believed that since the rich save at a higher rate than the poor, income inequality...

We present a model in which purely monetary inflation systematically affects efficiency, welfare, and relative prices. The model focuses on the microeconomics of trade in search markets under inflation. Inflation, by increasing the cost of holding money, undermines the market's ability to...

This paper presents a framework that nests search and Walrasian-type models to study the evolution of stationary equilibria in the region between the two approaches. In our model unemployed workers can simultaneously approach n firms every period. We regard n as a proxy for information...

This paper presents a framework that nests search and Walrasian-type models to study the evolution of stationary equilibria in the region between the two approaches. In our model unemployed workers can simultaneously approach n firms every period. We regard n as a proxy for information...

We present a model that links the division of labor and economic growth with the division of wealth in society. When capital market imperfections restrict the access of poor households to capital, the division of wealth affects individual incentives to invest in specialization. In turn, the...

In this article we adapt Burtless and Hausman's (1978) methodology in order to estimate farmers' demand for irrigation water under increasing block-rate tariffs and empirically assess its effect on aggregate demand and inter-farm allocation efficiency. This methodology overcomes the technical...

This paper examines why developed countries are monogamous while rich men throughout history have tended to practice polygyny (multiple wives). Wealth inequality naturally produces multiple wives for rich men in a standard model of the marriage market where polygyny is not ruled out. However,...